My Valentine... 2nd Year Running

We had a great Valentine's Day this year. Our day went as follows:

9:00am-12:00pm: Cleaned our house. Yes, Carter does his part in cleaning. As you can see already, he was a great Valentine.

1:00-4:00pm: Went to movie theatre to play at the Arcade. We easily spent an hour in there. We did finally go see a movie. Coraline. Incredibly creepy. I don't recommend it at all.

5:00-6:00pm: Our initial plan was to get fancied up and go out to dinner. But Carter was tired and I didn't want to drive out on the cold, wet roads. So... Plan B. I would make a homemade, "special" dinner. Carter requested none else then good 'ol Mac 'n Cheese. The was the last thing in the world I wanted. So, I would compromise. I found a recipe online for a gourmet Mac 'n Cheese and I was on board! We went shopping at the fantastic Harmon's in Fort Union (Really, this place is incredible. A whole entire section devoted to CHEESE in every variety you can imagine). I was also going to pick up some flowers but Carter insisted on balloons. Balloons it was.

6:00-7:00pm: Prepared dinner together. Carter is a great Sous Chef in addition to being a great Valentine. We also set the table with a bouquet of balloons for each of us, plastic champagne glasses and courtesy of Carter- Heart Art hung on the wall. We dressed up in our best Pj's and sipped sparkling cider.

7:00-8:00pm: Enjoyed dinner together and topped it off with Ben and Jerry's ice cream; Half-Baked (lowfat) for me and Phish Food for Carter.

8:00-unknown time: Snuggled on the couch watching movies and dozed off together next to the fire.






A perfect Valentine's Day with my perfect Valentine.

Puzzle Mania!!

Carter and I have discovered a past time we enjoy doing together. We have done about 3 puzzles since last Tuesday. Carter is actually quite good. He was able to find where certain pieces went that I gave up on.

It usually starts like this.



And ends like this.

Emiko & Yuitchi

My dear friend Emiko came to Salt Lake City to visit for a week from Japan. She got married last year and this is the first time we met her husband, Yuitchi.

Have you ever just met someone and you have just felt such a goodness about that person?

I felt that when I first met Emiko over 6 years ago. I felt that again when I met Yuitchi. They were a joy to watch together. They were kind, loving and playful. I am so happy she met an amazing man and that she is so happy... And they look adorable in their matching coats!

They skiied at Snowbasin for a few days and had a great time. We went to dinner at Red Robin (Naturally, Emiko's favorite American restaurant, known for the Banzai Burger) and talked and laughed for hours.

Emiko and Yuitchi adored Carter and although he was shy around them, it was all he could talk about for days after. He wanted to go to Japan to see Emiko and Yuitchi. We are planning in the next couple years to either go to Japan or to meet up in Hawaii.

Emiko, I miss you already and I can't wait to see you again! Yuitchi, thank you for being so good to my dear friend and thank you for putting up with our crazy American ways!

A traumatic experience...

So it happened. It finally happened. I have been dreading this day and it took me by complete surprise. I thought that I would have a choice but it hit us unexpectedly. Well it hit one of us unexpectedly.

Carter cut his own hair.

He walked out of the bathroom from going potty and he quietly said, "Ma, I cut my hair." I took one look at the big chunk missing from the front of his once gorgeous golden locks and I burst into tears. I think he was completely shocked by my reaction and he started to cry. I held him and stroked what remained of his hair.





"Mama, I will never do it again. I promise."

I tried to gather my composure as I dialed Andrea at 10:30 at night. She answered and I lost it. She asked over and over again what was happening and I managed to choke out the words, "This is really stupid that I am crying but Carter cut his hair."

I had no idea I was sooo attached. The next night we made an emergency trip to Andrea's salon. She cut and sheared away and suddenly revealed a boy. Where did my baby go?

Carter's grandma has not forgiven me for cutting all of his locks off but there was NO way to salvage his hair.

The new 'do is cute but I miss waking Carter up and only being able to see a mound of hair and just being able to run my fingers through his hair.

Christmas 2008

I haven't posted in a while now and I have lots of pictures to share- I will start with Christmas!

Christmas Eve, Carter and I rode TRAX train downtown and went to Temple Sqaure! It was sooo fun and really cold! Carter loved the lights and we talked a lot about the temple. We also watched the Nativity presentation. Carter was fascinated! It was a great way to be reminded of the purpose of the Holiday season. I think this will become a Christmas Eve tradition for years to come!




We headed home and picked up some Chinese takeout for our Christmas Eve dinner. This is a tradition we did for a couple years when I was a child and I loved it! Carter doesn't really love Chinese but he really enjoyed the Sweet & Sour Chicken and Fried Rice. I had the Kung Pao Tofu and Potstickers! Yum!





We had a great Christmas morning; The highlights? Carter got a Leapster2 (a educational hand-held gaming system) and I got from Carter a Sonicare toothbrush! What a thoughtful boy, huh? (Thanks Ma!) We went and visited Nana and Papa, then Carter went to his dad's for a couple days. That weekend, we went to visit Carter's Grandma and Grandpa at their cabin. It was beautiful with fresh snow! We had good food, good conversation and a great snowshoe outing! Carter was absolutely spoiled rotten and we had to fill an entire duffel bag chuck-full of gifts! Oh, and Carter got to go on lots of rides on the snowmobile and snowcat with Grandpa!






All in all, Christmas was a happy and memorable time for us!